Posted by: H. Fuentes (alexcarlfue@bellsouth.net) on Tue Oct 30 21:53:27 2012

Hitting a ball is quite difficult, if the ball is fast and moving...it gets
more challenging. If we look at slow motion hitters, the stride occurs when the
ball is less than 15 feet in front of him. That stride is a neuromuscular
action that overloads spinal nerve pathways with information. It is like
pulling a trigger halfway and shooting at the wrong target, it interferes with
the swing precision (by lowering the vision plane) and decision making. Even
worse, the stride is "one size fits all", the same for any time of pitch.
If the goal of pitchers is to keep the hitter off balance, the hitter must try
to stay synchronized with him. How? One way is to "load when he loads", it
means to "pre" stride during the late cocking phase of the pitcher, so the
batter is steady and better positioned to check the type of pitch threw to him.
If that "early-synchronized" stride looks too mechanical, try the "no stride"
like Pujols, David Wright (his first season), and some college players are
using.
The metal bats, coach pitch (the angle of the pitch from a man to a child
creates an up-swing, that years later ignorant hitting coaches instruct to hit-
down!!!), the hitting on one strike approach, the no chocking on 2 strikes
(unless you are a Ted Williams or Hank Aaron clone), etc. have affected most
hitters.
You are lucky if each time at bat you get the pitch that you like to hit;
therefore, a solid-steady base is necessary to identify the pitch that you
love.